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On a 200km stage, Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam) was off the front for 195km. Most important, he was off the front at the very end of the day. Haussler went clear with six others just 5km into a rainy day that featured five categorized climbs. After 60km it was only he, Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) and Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi) off the front. After Perez Moreno was dropped on a climb, and Chavanel was dropped on a slippery descent, Haussler simply put his head down and went it alone.

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The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has appealed the agreement between the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and former pro Tyler Hamilton on the grounds that an eight-year suspension for a second doping offense should be subject to the court's review. In a papers filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), WADA has asked an arbitration panel to consider setting aside an agreement between USADA and Hamilton in which he accepted an eight-year suspension without contesting a positive doping test for testosterone.

On Thursday, the World Anti-Doping Agency filed an appeal with International Court of Arbitration for Sport, challenging the agreement between the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and former pro Tyler Hamilton that he accept an eight-year suspension from competition for a second doping offense. WADA has asked that CAS overturn the agreement and impose a life-time ban in the Hamilton case.

Hamilton's attorney, Chris Manderson, released the following statement in response the WADA decision:

STATEMENT FROM CHRIS MANDERSON

Katie Compton has the legs. Heather Irmiger has the lungs. Mary McConneloug owns the technical skills and Georgia Gould has the speed.   Each of these four racers brings a unique set of skills into this weekend’s USA Cycling national cross-country championships, held at Sol Vista resort in Granby, Colorado. The four sit atop the list of favorites to win Saturday’s cross-country race, which awards one year of bragging rights to the victor.  So who is the absolute favorite to win? 

The Tour of the Battenkill, which saw about 1,500 professional and amateur racers compete in 2009, will expand to two weekends for its 2010 edition, and add a second race for professional men on a new course. In addition to the hallmark race for professional and amateur racers on Saturday, April 25, two professional races will be held on Thursday, April 29, and Sunday, May 2, said promoter Dieter Drake All races will continue the event’s tradition of combining dirt and paved roads, a feature that has helped the race’s exponential growth since its first edition in 2005.

Think the BC Bike Race is the easy Epic mountain bike race? Think again.

The overall classification for the top 10 in the Tour de France has not changed since last weekend’s stages in the Pyrenees. Monday was a rest day and stage 10 and 11 have been won in field sprints by Team Columbia-HTC’s Mark Cavendish. Team Saxo Bank’s Chris Anker Sorensen continues to ride well within his first Tour de France. He is recovering quickly and has been well within his comfort zone the last two stages. However, many others have been, as well, so we should expect some real fireworks as the Tour enters the Alpes in a few days.

Stage 10

A fast start, a late break and the escape holds in the 12th stage of the Tour de France. Photographer Casey Gibson was there.

Mark Cavendish’s victory in the uphill finish Wednesday at Saint-Fargeaux proved that the British sprinter’s isn’t a one-trick pony limited to the flats. Just like his surprise victory at Milan-San Remo revealed this spring, a leaner and stronger Cavendish revealed he can get over the hills and win when the stage goes uphill.

The climbs (and descents) in the low mountains of the Vosges of northeast France have often caused unexpected problems or opportunities for major Tour contenders. Bad crashes ended the winning hopes of Raymond Poulidor and Luis Ocaña during Tours of the 1960s, while Ivan Basso crashed out of his first Tour on a stage through these wooded peaks. On the other side of the coin, Eddy Merckx brilliantly used his first experience of the Vosges to leave all his opponents behind in a solo victory to the summit of the Ballon d’Alsace in 1969.

Levi Leipheimer is banged up after a late-stage crash in Thursday’s wild ride to Vittel, but he’s thankful that he wasn’t seriously injured ahead of the potentially explosive stage across the Vosges on Friday. The Astana rider – poised for the Tour podium in fourth place at 39 seconds back – crashed on a left-hander as the main pack swept into the finish line sprint nearly six minutes behind solo winner Nicki Sorensen (Saxo Bank).

Katie Compton has the legs. Heather Irmiger has the lungs. Mary McConneloug owns the technical skills and Georgia Gould has the speed.

The UCI, on Thursday reversed its controversial decision to ban race radios for Friday's stage 13. "To put an end to the controversy which is compromising the running of the Tour de France, the International Cycling Union Management Committee has decided not to repeat the experiment of a stage without radio communication on Friday 17th July," it said in a statement. Race radios were banned for the 10th stage of the race, a move which prompted 14 of the Tour's 20 teams to submit a petition in protest.

Saxo Bank's Nicki Sorensen emerged from a seven-man break to take a classic solo win on a perfect summer day in France Thursday. Sorensen was part of the group that formed about 70km into the 212km 12th stage from Tonnerre to Vittel, the last relatively flat day before the Tour returns to the mountains Friday. Sorensen attacked the breakaway with Agritubel's Sylvain Calzati with about 20k to go, and then attacked Calzati with 5k to go to cross the line with a 37-second gap over the rest of the break. [nid:95239]

Less than one month after taking the marathon cross-country national championship race, held at the Firecracker 50 race in Breckenridge, Colorado, Horgan-Kobelski comes into this weekend's USA Cycling mountain bike national championships in nearby Granby as the odds-on favorite to win.

Organizers of the new Sho Air-Specialized US Cup and USA Cycling’s Pro Cross-country Tour (ProXCT) have canceled the final race of each respective series, the Series Shootout cross-country race. The event was supposed to be held Sunday, September 26 at Bootleg Canyon, just outside of Las Vegas, the day after the Las Vegas Interbike trade show closed.

Organizers of the new Sho Air-Specialized US Cup and USA Cycling's Pro Cross-country Tour (ProXCT) have canceled the final race of each respective series, the Series Shootout cross-country race. The event was supposed to be held September 26 at Bootleg Canyon, just outside of Las Vegas, and run during the Interbike trade show.

After outfitting sponsored teams with new time trial helmets last week, Giro used the first mountain stages of this year’s Tour to unveil a new road helmet as well. Unlike the TT helmet, which has yet to be named, priced, or slated for release to the public, the new Giro Prolight is already in the pipeline for retailers this coming spring.

Giro Prolight – less is more

Close calls Well, two more sprint stages in the books and two more near misses. One second- and a third-place are certainly nice, but not quite the win we have been looking for. We're definitely getting our timing dialed for the bunch kicks, though. Julian has been amazing the last couple of days! It's going to click one of these days. The only bummer today was that both Christian and Ryder crashed. This was the third time Ryder has hit the deck! They say bad things come in threes though, so I guess he's gotten them all out of the way now.

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While Mark Cavendish is getting all the glory of stage win after stage win at this 96th Tour de France, he always compliments his Columbia-HTC teammates, notably his lead-out man Mark Renshaw. But the Manxman, who looks like he’s on his way to at least six stage victories this year, also knows that he would never get the opportunity to use his explosive sprint if it weren’t for his less-heralded colleagues Bernhard Eisel of Austria and Bert Grabsch of Germany.

Mark Cavendish kicks it in the last 200 meters of a 192km stage to Saint Fargeau. Casey Gibson was there for the whole race, capturing images from another terrific day at the Tour de France.